Tension device for looms



J. A. KENNEDY.

TENSION DEVICE FOR LOOMIS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 21, I916.

Patented Mar. 16,1920.

Z 7v h k VE/V 777 JUSEPHA KENNEDY A TY 5- UNITED STATES rnrnur OEFIGE.

.iosiirirA, KENNEDY, or PAWTUCKET, RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR TO ciiiii'iimc'ir MANUFACTURING COMPANY, 01? rAW'rUoKE'r, RHODE ISLAND, A CORPORA- TION OF RHODE ISLAND.

To'all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOSEPH A. IKZENNEDY,

a citizen of theUi-iited States, residing at Pawtucket, iiithe county of Providence and State of Rhode Island, have invented new and useful Improvements in Tension Devices for Looms, of which the following is a specification.

- The present invention relates to.'a tension devicefor the threads used in Weaving fabricsin a loom; The form of the invention herein illustrated has been. designed particularly for-use upon the shuttle of a circularlooin to control the tension of the filling thread. While such lforin or. embodiment is thus'evid'ently well adaptedfor use 45. ;shuttle and. tensionvdevice to the point upon the particular type of loom and the particular part of the loom indicated, never-' 'theless I do not limit my invention to a device adapted only fort-hat use, since the principles of the invention may be applied, with or without materialmodification in the mechanical embodiment of, sa d principles,

to other partslo-fa circular 100111, or to other types of loom, and ndeed to other k nds of machine where it "IS desired to put a regulated and uniform degree of tensionupon the thread" or line; Accordingly ny invention relatesbroadly to tension devices for threads-or lines, wherever applied.v fThe features and improvements in which the invention particularly -consists appear from thefollowingi description of the particular deviceillustrated' in the" drawing, and from the appendediclaims. It may be said, however, that I considerthe invention to 'consist both in the tensiondevice itself,,independentl-y of the shuttle or other machine element with which it is used; and. also in the combination of the device with a shuttle."

In; the drawings, V Figure 1 represents a plan view'of a shuttle for a circular.looiirliaving a tension device embodying my invention,applied'to it. and showingzfals'o the relationof the around whiclithecircular Weaving action of the 100m takes place.

Figs-2' isa plan view of the tension deviceon alarger scale than that illustrated in Fig: 1;;

Fig. 8 is an elevation, of" the tension del vice."

\ bersl, 2, 3, 4c, 5, 6,

Tension DEVICE FOR LooMs.

Specification of Iietters Patent. Patented B131. 16, 19 20. Application filed June 27, 1916. Serial No. 106,13 I A The device itself consists essentially of a base platen, a spring I) and a number of pins or studs rising from the base plate. In the particular device here shown I have provided eight of such pins and have here designated them respectively by the 1111111 and 8. I It is within my contemplation, however, to provide more or fewer pins than the exact number here shown.

The part b which I have above designated as a spring is a flat strip of resilient metal, preferably tempered steel,whieh is held at one endagainst the surface of the base by a The surface against which the,

screw 0. spring is so held is-that surface from which the pinsrise; All other parts ofthe spring are free, being pressed toward the base only by such pressure as .is' transmitted from the holding screw by the elasticity and resilience of the spring. The outer end Z)" of the spring is turned up. to make it anf'easier na-t ter to slip a thread under it I 'liave called part b a spring because mechanically it is a piece of spring metal ora spring strip. Functionally, however-git is apresser adapted to bear with a'resilientpressure uniform iii-quality and of practically a known intensity against the thread which is affected by the tension device SOxZLS to make an initial tension in thBrthFGEtdfybjZ-dlhfi friction caused by its pressure upon the thi'ead and the pressure ofthei latter against the base.

For thepurpose ofillustrating'a use'of the tension device I have shown the-shuttle of a circular loom having'a' base (Z and a frame 6 on which are mounted the trunnions f, f of abobbin g carryinga roll-of thread .or yarn h. [The shuttle is mounted upon a .trackway in a circular loom and is propelled by a mechanism provided'for that purpose in the 100m, of which there" are a number'of well known commercial types, to travel in .a circuit about a mandrel 76' -Wl1l0h establishes what is called the weaving point of Xthe loom. The lines marked Z radiating fromgthe weaving point represent warp threads with which the shuttle thread k is interwoven. Fig. '1 also'shows additional shuttle threads 72/ Hand k which are to be understood asbeing supplied from a like number of other shuttles similar to the shuttle shown. k V

It will seen that the tension device is located "on the shuttle frame between the bobbin and the weaving point. The shuttle thread is passed between the spring or presser Z) and the base of the tension dev ce,

passing thencefin a more 'or less zigzag,

course across and partly around two or more of the pins, finally passlng from the pin 8,

, the last pin of the series, to the weaving point.

For illustration I have shown the thread as passingin a sinuous course around the v of pins about'which the thread is bent is approximately a measurefof the total drag applied by the tension device to the thread," 'so that by bending the thread about'one, two, three,"or n1ore of'the pins the tension may be made of almost any exactly knownand pins 1, 6, 2, 7, 3, and 8 in succession. I may,

however, pass it around other pins in other ways. .A comparatively large number of pins are provided and are given a staggered arrangement so as to permita great variation in the course of'the thread. By this means practically any desired tension may be caused in the thread, from that in which the thread is almost slack, to' one where it is held firmly enough to break. The presser Z) causes an initial drag on the thread whereby the bending ofthe thread thereafter around any pin causes it to exert acertain.

friction-producing pressure againstthe side of the pin. This pressure 'isincreased with every additional pin around which the thread is bent. The pins-are made as nearly as possible; alike with smooth sides, and "equal diametersin cross section. Thus all are able to exert substantially thesame frie tion on the thread, and therebythe number predetermined amount;-

The initial drag causedby; the spring p'resserf 6 upon the thread may bevari'ed' according to the distance of the thr ead J from the holding clamp f6 (if-the presser. That is,

the'spring presses'with a greater'force'near its clamped end than n'ar itsfree end, and

thepressure thus appliedatfany point is proportional to-the distance of the point from the secured fend.) Thus by bringing the thread past the presser tan'gent 'tothe pin 6, for instance, instead ofto the' pin 5,

ashere shown, the spring is caused-to bear withsgreater force againstthe thread than 'mfthe' arrangement shown in the drznvings.

Thethread may bedrawnacross the presser pat almost any desired distance from the Y holding screwc by appropriatelychoosing the pin with which it is first brought-into "contact and laying its'further course 'appropriately to maintainitin such contact.

The screws m and n shown in Figs. 1 and 2 are the means shown for securing *the tension device to the-shuttle frame. Their The side or the presser knot.

heads are set in countersunkholes flush with the upper surface of the base, so that they have no function in applying tension to the thread and oppose no obstacle to its'movement.

The modification shown in Figsi 5 and 6 difiers from that hereinbefore described in that the presser is constructed and'mounted so as to permit knots in the thread to pass,

upper ends of theposts 7': Such stop baris merely one form of abutment and; may be considered as typicalof anysorttof abutment for these springs. In the first form shown the bar .9 .is of suchflength that one end sis carriedon an incline toward the base plate and terminates at the enda" of ofthe tension device whenthe latter is applied to a shuttle, and the inclined part 3 the latten This 'end' is; they advancing end otthe stop bar then serves as a spreader to I guidef the warp threads over the endsof the postsgp so as to clear the latter. I V

79 is rounded or beveled away from thesurface of the base over which the thread passes, and the adjacent edge of thebase-is oppositely beveled or rounded at aithus providing af'wide mouth and converging.v guid ngj surfaces between winch the thread passes before reaching the .point'at which itisipressedupon by the presser, such mouthsbeing sufficiently wide to admit: knots in: the thread. Thereby it' isinadefpossibleto tiethe; end of the thread iroin an exhausted 'bob'bin'itothe thread on a filled'bobbin and continueweaving, saving the waste of thread whichghas hitherto'jbeen unavoidable with each; change/of bobbins. The knot connecting the ftwo' ends passes-between beveled surfaces on the base "and the presser, whereby it"is able to lift the presser andto pass it'without being caught. The

form of the pins around which the thread subsequently passes, already-described, is

such that they do not. impede the travel of a What I ters. Patent is:

'1. A tension device comprising a base, a

plurality of guidemernbers'rising from said claim and desire to secure byrIietbase adapted to guide'thread' in a 'sinuoiis coursearound'and between them and over theba'se, and a presser urged'resiliently toward the baseand adapted to bear on the thread, applying 7 an initial tension thereto different parts of said presserbeing adapted it to apply difierent degrees ofpressuraf and certain guide members being arranged in lines perpendicular to, said difierent parts,

, whereby to cause the thread to be pressed upon stud to which the thread passes therefrom.

4. A tension device for thread comprising by one or another of such different parts according as the thread is brought into engagement first with one or another of said guide members.

, 2. A tension device comprising a base, a

" number of studs rising from said base bethe other, whereby to apply greater or less initial tension according as the thread first passesto one or another of the studs 3. A tension device comprising a base, a number of studs rising from said base adapted to be engaged successively by a thread passing over the base and arranged to permit such thread to be first engaged with different particular ones of said studs,

and means for applying tension to such thread in its course to one of the studs, said means being constructed and adapted to cause such tension to be greater or less according to the position of the particular essentially a base and a plurality of guide membersprOJectmg from said base adapted nearer to or more to guide thread in a sinuous course and thereby to be' pressed upon by the thread in.

a manner such as to exert a frictional resistance to the passage thereof, said guide members having smooth surfaces to engage the thread and being all alike, whereby the number of such members with which the thread is passed in contact serves as a'meas-.

ure of the tension applied to the thread, and

a resilient presser arranged to press the thread against the base'before the thread comes into engagement with said guide" members and constructed to exert pressure with different force at locations in line with different guide members. i

5. A tension device comprising a base,a

fiat spring lying upon said base and clamped thereto at one end, between which and the base thread is adapted to pass, and said spring exerting force against the thread thus passlng according as the thread is end of the spring, and a number of studs rising from said base in posit on to permit such thread to be passed between and 7 around them after passing saidspring, and

the studsbeing further arranged 111 lines of draft of the thread more or less distant from said clamped end, whereby to permit of the thread being first engaged with different particular studs, and thereby to be pressed upon by different specific parts of the I spring.

In testimony whereof. I have affixed my signature.

JOSE H A. KENNEDY;

remote from the clamped 1 v i 

